All UN resolutions related to sanctions against Tehran to prevent nuclear proliferation in Iran, will be restored this Saturday night, except last minute theater. In the absence of an agreement with Tehran, the sanctions recovery mechanism, known as “Snapback”, activated on August 28 by Group E3 (Germany, France, United Kingdom), GMT will begin at midnight from Saturday night from Saturday to Sunday.
This will reactivate the previous provisions that had been suspended with the 2015 agreement, known as the acronym JCPOA.
The sanctions are directed to companies, entities and individuals that contribute directly or indirectly to the Iranian nuclear program or the development of ballistic missiles, either because they provide the necessary equipment, knowledge or financing.
A myriad of affected sectors
The sanctions that will be restored include an embargo on conventional weapons with the prohibition of any sale or transfer of weapons to Iran. Imports and export or transfer of documents, goods and technologies linked to the nuclear and ballistic program will be prohibited.
The assets of entities and individuals abroad belong to Iranian persons or entities linked to nuclear programs will freeze. People designated as stakeholders in prohibited activities may be prohibited by international circulation (entry, traffic) in the United Nations Member States.
The UN Member States will also have to restrict banking and financial activities (provision of services, funds) that could help Iran in their nuclear or ballistic programs. And the people or entities that would violate the arrangements could see their internationally blocked assets.
Autonomous measures taken by the EU
The European measures, in the application and extension of the resolutions of the Security Council, had been adopted at the European Union level.
The objective was to have a direct impact on the Iranian economy, to affect not only proliferation networks, but also to charge an economic cost to Iranian power to force it to modify its behavior in nuclear proliferation matters. Westerners fear that I will have nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies vigorously, defending their right to develop a nuclear program for civil purposes.
Transposition in European Law
The “Snapback” reactive of UN resolutions, but its practical implementation requires a transposition in the internal law of the UN Member States, the European Union, etc. Consequently, the EU will have to take action in the process to apply the decisions of the UN Security Council.
At the moment, the details of this transposition at European and British level, which has left the EU, have not communicated.
What happens to respect for sanctions?
The resolutions and sanctions of the UN Security Council are binding but regularly violated. The big question is whether countries like China and Russia, who believe that the outbreak of “snapback” was illegal, could not respect them. Some countries, including China, have continued to maintain their trade with Iran despite the US sanctions that were restored when the United States left the JCPOA agreement in 2018.
Therefore, Europeans expect Russia not to respect the sanctions, but they are more reserved for the way China, which imports a lot of oil from Iran, could react. “There is a cost to avoid sanctions, a political cost, but also a financial and economic cost because financial transactions are more expensive,” observes Clément Theme, associate researcher of the International Institute of Iranian Studies linked to the University of La Sorbonne.
There will be greater pressure, for example, in maritime transport companies. “In the case of UN sanctions, we will probably not have a complete blockade, but the costs that increase,” summarizes the researcher.
Source: BFM TV
